Riello 40 oil burner..

[ekon]

..in my oil-fired system has been extremely reliable. I have had this burner in the boiler since 2000 and with regular maintenace has never ince played up let alone failed.
Yesterday noticed a strange thing with it though..the boiler would be running normally..the house is lovely and warm.. and just for 4 or 5 seconds the burn would stop.. the motor still running ..and then the burn would start again without me doing anything?

Checked to see if there was any kerosene leaks and outside on the joint from the copper pipe to the bowl of the measuring tube there was a tiny bit of oil on the first quarter inch of the outlet pipe but no drip. The union was tight. I put some grease round this joint to (temporarily) eliminate any tiny ingress of air...but I havent cured the "problem".

I am loathe to pull it all aprt right now as its very cold and we have elderly mother in law with us at the moment. Hopefully runnuing it like this for a bit longer (say a month til it gets warmer) wont do any damage to the burner unit.

Anyone had this or venture a possible cause. Thanks for reading.

 

[Burnerman]

This may just be a sign that the boiler baffles need a good clean out - a wee bit back pressure here will cause just this.
With a balanced flue appliance, removing the burner cover - to let more air in - can also work.
Obviously by saying this I've no idea what your oil pump pressure is, or any knowledge of a flue gas analysis...which is absolutely vital!
John

 

[ekon]

thanks Burnerman for your prompt input..strangely enough the wind has turned right round here the last couple of days from an easterly to the north west (which is not common here). Its a cool one and I could really feel it as I was round by the tank & near where the balanced-flue comes out.

I also noticed on inspecting what I can easily see of the flue that it has deteriorated to the extent that a old-penny size piece of the outer skin has removed itself and is lying in the "tunnel" I put the flue through some 20 plus years ago when the boiler itself (Mistral of Market Drayton..now gone sadly) was new. Its done pretty well that stainless/chromed steel.

Will take the red cover off the front of the burner unit as you suggest and see if it makes any difference. Will also look to source a new exhaust/ flue unit. Don't know if that will be tricky given age of boiler? (although getting a replacement burner unit 10 years ago was a breeze)

So Burnerman..thanks again & I think you may be right. I'd just like to wait until the end of the heating season proper (another month) until I strip the boiler down for maintenace as I normally do. Must confess I didn't do it last year as I was away from home a great deal.

edit/addition..I stood round near where the balanced flue comes out and a strong gust blew up and caused the symptom..which is maybe why when I timed the symptom after inital fire-up there was no real pattern ?